Group Project: Designing an Ogam Deck

[SunflowerP]

Mm, I don't think our project is a reinvention of the wheel: for one thing, this deck starts from the "tree = ogam" oracle system. The cards are all named after the trees, and feature symbolism associated mostly with the trees, not necessarily with the myriad other associations that can be found when you start from the oracle system of "ogam = a letter".

And that's the case with most ogam decks, honestly. I think what we want to do that's different is start from a completely different system: ogam is a series of letters, with trees, colors, animals, etc. associated with them.

And, as I mentioned, not a huge fan of the artwork in this one. I like the artwork of the Tree Oracle, but again, that's just limited to trees. What I'd like is a deck that features pretty artwork.

 
Cartomancy geek sticking her oar in again:  Yep, there are several tree-centred Ogam decks out there - AFAIK/IIRC, the centring of trees is largely from Graves' influence, so they're all fairly heavily neoPagan.  Both the Tree Oracle and (from what I can see from the pics; I'm not otherwise familiar with it) the Ogham Oracle are pretty good examples of how to include a lot of iconography, but there are a number of tarot decks that are just as good for that purpose (I have a fairly high opinion of the Dragon Tarot's inclusion of iconography, and that's another one illustrated by the same guy as did the Ogham Oracle); either way you still have to figure out how to apply it to the particular iconography you have in mind.

I will say this about busy-ness:  the more iconography you include, the more you're likely to have cards that are either on the busy side, or compartmentalized (like the Tree Oracle - lots of boxes).

Sunflower

[Finn]

 

Tacking this onto here, but I'd like to just wave and check in with everyone. I have a few questions:

• How does everyone feel with the general facts of ogam and where we stand currently in our wants and needs for a deck? I've spoken up about how I'd like this deck to be based on the letters of ogam, not the trees, and how I'd like a fairly composed, less busy art style that incorporates a small number of different associations and elements into a picture/composition, not really just a card with symbols on it.
• What does everyone think about this? What do you want or need from a deck like this?
• Do we need to have a vote on whether we begin with the lists from Erynn Rowan Laurie's book and Alexei Kondratiev's work? If so, I'd love to hear y'alls opinions on the matter.
• And finally, has anyone else taken a stab at coming up with their ogam lists? No pressure to do so, but it's a fun exercise and pretty useful for cementing more firmly the different associations and meanings of each fid into your brain.

[Idho]

Tacking this onto here, but I'd like to just wave and check in with everyone. I have a few questions:

• How does everyone feel with the general facts of ogam and where we stand currently in our wants and needs for a deck? I've spoken up about how I'd like this deck to be based on the letters of ogam, not the trees, and how I'd like a fairly composed, less busy art style that incorporates a small number of different associations and elements into a picture/composition, not really just a card with symbols on it.
• What does everyone think about this? What do you want or need from a deck like this?
• Do we need to have a vote on whether we begin with the lists from Erynn Rowan Laurie's book and Alexei Kondratiev's work? If so, I'd love to hear y'alls opinions on the matter.
• And finally, has anyone else taken a stab at coming up with their ogam lists? No pressure to do so, but it's a fun exercise and pretty useful for cementing more firmly the different associations and meanings of each fid into your brain.

Just found this threat. I'm interested in participating, too. I could offer help on the content, and on images/illustrations - if you still need some extra folks, of course, I'm interested in this project either way.
If you can use some extra input, I will post a link to some of my work, and also send my personal ogham-list.

[JohnPaulPatton]

Folks,

I see my book 'The Poets Ogam: A Living Magical Tradition, got a mention earlier on this thread. I will turn up here and there! lol In it I present a series of Ogam Pentacles, which are really a type of Ogam Deck. The ideas are all mine but I got a professional illustrator to interpret my crude drawings for the book (my original designs are also included in the appendix). Someone mentioned the price of my book on Amazon as being expense, it can be got via lulu.com at a better price, I from around £7 for the download. You might find the designs of use! :   )

Good luck with the project I look forward to seeing how it develops.

Cheers

JP

JP

[JohnPaulPatton]

Good luck with the project I look forward to seeing how it develops.

 
Oh, btw my Pentacles are of course round and that might be an idea for your deck. I recall years ago a tarot deck was released with round cards. I imagine these Pentacles to be like the the tree rings of a tree. A motif that came up frequently in my personal musings on ogam and also a way of thinking about Finns Window. Cheers!

[Faylie]

Just found this threat. I'm interested in participating, too. I could offer help on the content, and on images/illustrations - if you still need some extra folks, of course, I'm interested in this project either way.
If you can use some extra input, I will post a link to some of my work, and also send my personal ogham-list.

 
I only just came across this thread too.  Is it still happening?  I would be interested in helping too.  I'm not too sure what I would be good at as my knowledge is minimal.  Maybe I could be someone to give it a trial run as a novice coming to it to see how easily they can be interpreted :p